The deafening silence was punctured by the frustrated tearing and crushing of paper. She sat at her desk, breathing heavily as she glanced out towards the sea of dark little houses, barely illuminated by the clouded moonlight. The night pressed onto her eyes and she rubbed them while returning to her dimly-lit table. Was the deadline of the newspaper article she was rushing to finish really worth her night's sleep? So much for a job, she thought.
Just as she was starting on a new piece of paper, there came a "tap-tap" on her window so silent she thought she had imagined it. Doubting herself, she peered out again and saw nothing. In oblivion, she picked up her pencil and began jotting down some main ideas when another "tap-tap" sounded at her window once more. Now sure that she had not imagined it, she got up and threw the windows open and suddenly saw two bloodshot eyes staring at her.
She froze.
"I need to hide," the voice croaked desperately, like the hinges of a rusty iron gate.
Fear was boiling through her veins, panic cascading into her mind as she gazed at the sunken eyes hooded by swollen lids. The infected bloody gash on his cheek sent her stomach onto a plunging roller coaster. He had both hands on her window sill, waiting for her to help him climb in.
Guided by emotion rather than sensibility, she reached out a trembling hand. His big icy palm grabbed hers and she felt his weight, willing her to pull him in. He put one bloody leg over the window sill and was squeezing his shoulders through the narrow window--
The gunshot that came reverberated through her bones and perforated his.
In shock, she released her hands from his freezing clasp, letting go of the weighty burden on her wrists. His dull grey eyes locked with her big round ones once more before letting his body fall, falling, fallen...
"Did you hear or see anything out of the ordinary last night?" questioned the police officer donning his many sparkling badges.
"I... I was away last night. I have no idea of what happened," she stared determinedly at the badges, trying to take her mind off the lifeless body that lay right in front of her, the body that was covered in thick scarlet, the body she let go of just a few hours ago.
Heavens only knew that the bags under her eyes ever since were housing a ball of fear, that the lump in her throat whenever she spoke was a burning fire of guilt, and that the slump in her shoulders was the result of shouldering the heavy burden of remorse that seemed never to go away.
"Take me instead," she whispered into the darkness.
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